The Carman Dufferin Historical Museum – Carman Dufferin Municipal Heritage Advisory Committee

Dufferin Historical Museum

The Museum is the main resource in the RM for preservation and conservation of heritage materials. It features a wide range of artifacts and displays, catalogued materials and files.
Location: Carman, Manitoba, Corner Hwy #1245 and Kelly Hand Drive It is located in King’s Park at the the corner of Kelly Hand Drive and Hwy 245.
GPS coordinates: 49° 30.178 N 098° 00.621 W
Hours: Dufferin Historical Museum is open in the summer months (June, July, August)
Tues-Sat 10:00 – 5:00 pm
Sunday 1:00 – 5:00 pm
Tel.: 204-745-3597

June 2023

The folks at the Museum also have been busy with two major fund-raising events – a garage sale which was held June 3 and a duck race scheduled for July 12. Watch for their posters.

September 2022

Speaking of keen memories….

On the other hand, we were reminded recently of how we sometimes clearly recall the smallest details from years ago. We took this picture recently of a local resident when he visited the DHM. The old Graysville mailboxes are on display there and he wanted to see if he could remember the combination to the old family mailbox. It had been his job as a youngster to pick up the mail. To his delight, the mailbox opened first try.

Hopefully, the pandemic is finally part of our history. We’re itching to get back to recording life stories and to encouraging families to capture their own ‘heirlooms’ while they still can.

April 2022

Hotel project. Chairperson Nikki Falk reported that the vintage photo project at the newly opened Blue Crescent Hotel was in place for the hotel opening and has been positively received. The hotel will continue to work with the Dufferin Historical Museum on labelling the photos.

May 2020

From the Museum. Meetings have been cancelled but the DHS president reports that the Museum has gratefully received a grant from the Carman Foundation and has purchased new dehumidifiers for the museum.

February 2020

Museum Events. Karen Maxwell is the incoming President of the Dufferin Historical Museum. She takes over from Trish Aubin who has done such a fine job leading the group over the past several years. Karen is well up to the task—and Trish is staying on as Vice-President—so the committee is in good hands. They are busy planning a couple of upcoming events including:
Flea Market & Antique Sale – May 23, 2020
Town-wide Garage Sale – June 6, 2020
The Dufferin Historical Society installed the first Missouri Trail sign back in 1961 so we’re planning on working together to organize unveiling of the new sign this coming May.

Sept 2019

Dufferin Historical Museum. On September 7, the Museum celebrated 60 years of service to the community by hosting a tea and quilt display. Over 30 quilts made for a fine display of the handiwork of local women across the years.

Some of the many quilts on display in Boyne School.

August 2019

Museum 60th Anniversary. The Dufferin Historical Museum will be hosting a tea and quilt display Saturday, September 7, from 2:00–4:00 p.m. in honour of the Museum’s 60th anniversary. Drop in and help celebrate 60 years of service to the community.

May 2018

Museum Events. Trish Aubin, President of the Dufferin Historical society, was recipient this past month of the Individual Award of Distinction from Central Manitoba Tourism. The award recognized Trish’s outstanding leadership in promoting local heritage and attracting visitors to the Museum. Congratulations, Trish, on a well-deserved award.

The Dufferin Historical Museum held its Spring Tea Saturday, May 12 to honour veterans on the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI.

Other Museum events planned for 2018-19:

Pioneer Days Saturday June 9th (1 to 4 pm)
Paint Night Wednesday October 10th (6:30 to 10 pm, painting at 7pm)
Christmas at the Museum Saturday December 1st (5 to 9 pm)
Flea Market/Antique Sale Saturday May 25th 2019 (10 am to 4 pm)

July 2017

Museum Activities. An appreciative crowd turned out June 24th to the reopening of Boyne School. The event was part of local Canada 150 celebrations. It was highlighted by speeches, tours of the school, exhibits, refreshments, launch of their new book, 150 Memorable Stories of Carman and Area, plus lots of reminiscence about the good old school days.

Ribbon-cutting at Boyne School Re-opening

Is that really where our milk comes from?

C/D MHAC shared a table with the museum again this year at the Carman Fair. It’s a great opportunity to promote our website and other projects. The museum folks started a time capsule that will be opened for Manitoba’s 150th anniversary in 2020. And, as always, they came up with some creative displays, such as this milking demonstration, which fascinated a group of local children.

June 2017

Museum Doings. The Dufferin Historical Museum folks have been spending long hours putting the finishing touches on the restored Boyne School, cleaning the log cabin, getting the150 stories of Carman project off to the printer and otherwise getting ready for their big June 24th celebration of Canada’s 150th anniversary.

April 2017

Canada 150. The Dufferin Historical Museum folks are taking the lead locally on celebrating the 150th anniversary of Canada. One of their main projects, collecting 150 stories about Carman, is in the final stages of production and should be ready for the Grand Re-Opening of Boyne School on June 24th.

The Museum has put a huge amount of time, effort and money into moving the school to the Kings Park site where they have re-designated it as a heritage site, restored the building and preserved it as a fine example of the one-room schoolhouses that once dotted the municipality. As many of you know, their recent booklet “School Bells and Honey Pails” documents the history of schools across the municipality.

March 2017

Museum News. The folks at the Museum are hustling to meet their deadline for collecting 150 local stories in honour of the 150th Anniversary of Canada. Word is that they are getting some great memories of the past. The booklet is scheduled to come out by June 24th, the date of the official reopening of the renovated Boyne School.

November 2016

On a much more positive note, we must acknowledge how much we have appreciated working with David Butterfield over the past several years. MHACs like ours have been inspired by his knowledge and enthusiasm for local heritage. We are delighted that, unlike our heritage sites, he has been successfully ‘repurposed’ as a consultant.

David Butterfield (left) and CDMHAC President
Nedra Burnett at Special Places meeting
Promoting Local Heritage. The heritage community tends to be a close-knit group. Here in Carman/Dufferin we try to work closely with the Dufferin Historical Museum, particularly when it comes to pooling volunteer resources. This past week, the two groups promoted local heritage at the Carman Wellness Fair. We handed out our CDMHAC website business cards and introduced folks to the new Cemetery Guide along with information on designated heritage sites in the district. The Museum tested visitors’ skill at identifying pioneer artifacts and promoted their plan for collecting stories of early Carman, a project that expands on work begun earlier this year by Wes Vanstone. Their intent is to collect and publish150 stories by 2017 to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary.

Ina Bramadat (CDMHAC website) promotes
heritage projects at local Wellness Fair
We also had an opportunity to tell folks about some of the upcoming Museum events that you will want to put on your calendar:
November 16 – Museum Annual Meeting. Pot-luck at 6:30 p.m. with presentation at 7:30 by Gordon Goldsborough on his newly launched book about abandoned sites in Manitoba. Those who attended his earlier presentations were impressed with his vast knowledge and dedication to Manitoba heritage.

December 3 – Christmas at the Museum. Everyone is looking forward as well to launching the holiday season at this annual gala featuring sleigh rides, food and entertainment.

October 2016

Museum news. Volunteers have been extra busy this last while getting Boyne School ready for the July 2017 opening. The interior painting is coming along well; electrical work is still to be done. Grandparents’ Day was not as well attended as planners hoped, however the Amazing Race day was successful again this year with 83 people (21 teams) visiting the Museum.

A project is underway in which volunteers plan on collecting 150 local stories in recognition of Canada’s 150th anniversary this coming year. Interviewers are pretty excited about their results so far. Good luck, everyone.

May 2016

Dufferin Historical Museum has a busy schedule of events lined up for the summer including:

Women’s Suffrage Tea – May 12th, 2016 featuring a Nellie McClung theme
Pioneer Day – June 17th with the usual array of pioneer demonstrations and
Grandparents Day – September 10th
The Museum is pleased to announce that student Emily Wiebe has been hired again this summer, starting work May 17. Work continues on renovations to the interior of Boyne School. One of the current challenges is finding ways to protect the buildings from pesky little varmints such as squirrels and woodpeckers. As one strategy to deter Woody and friends, a fake owl will be mounted on the roof.
Wes Vanstone pursues local history. Applause for Rosebank resident Wes Vanstone who has been following through diligently on his interest in the history of businesses in Carman during the 1948–52 era. He has been interviewing folks who recall those years. His research led to trying to learn more about “The Island”. As many still remember, it was formed by a loop in the Boyne River and accessed by a footbridge. The area became history when the bend in the river was eliminated and the highway extended straight north rather than curving picturesquely through town. Wes shared his findings with various groups and created a lot of interest in earlier days. He is working on a map which can be seen, along with coverage of his quest, in The Valley Leader, April 14, 2016. Way to go, Wes!

December 2015

Christmas at the Museum 2015. The Dufferin Historical Museum held its annual Christmas at the Museum celebration December 5. The evening featured Christmas carols, sleigh rides to see the lights of Carman as well as refreshments, children’s activities and a visit from Santa. Diane Gillingham shared two delightful short stories from her memories of early Christmases in rural Manitoba. Lovely start to the festive season.

November 2015

Dufferin Historical Museum. The Annual General Meeting of the Museum was held November 18 at Grace St. John’s Church. Combining business and fellowship, the meeting was preceded by a bountiful pot-luck supper.

Museum members plan for 2016 at the AGM

Jack McKinnon relives his early days of aerial photography

Jack McKinnon gave an overview of the 30 years he spent recording aerial photographs in the province and presented a proposal for ‘backing up’ the Museum’s original photos by scanning them to an external hard drive. A positive spin-off of the proposal is the impetus it’s given to both the Museum and CDMHAC to discuss our policies on digital scanning and use of digital images. This is a hot issue in a world that is being inundated with social media.

The Museum will be hosting its annual Christmas Tea December 5th and has ambitious plans for the coming year.

October 2015

Museum Tea. Dufferin Historical Museum held a tea Sept. 11 to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II’s achieving the longest reign of any monarch in British history. Visitors enjoyed tea and home-baked scones and viewed an impressive number of displays of royal artifacts. Among the highlights was a large display of royal memorabilia loaned for the occasion by Donna Cameron.
Donna Cameron shows visitors some of her collection of royal memorabilia

MP Candice Bergen brings the federal government’s message of
congratulations to the Queen

June 2015

Welcome. We are pleased to officially welcome Jane Swanton to the CDMHAC as our new Town of Carman Council representative. The Dufferin Historical Museum also is among the several committees on which she sits, so we are fortunate in that Jane’s appointment forges another link amongst our local heritage bodies.

Museum Events. The Dufferin Historical Museum folks have been busy as always in promoting local heritage. The Museum is now open for the summer. They had to cancel the BBQ fund-raiser due to foul weather but everyone is in high spirits as they plan for Pioneer Days on June 19 and for a Harvest Tea and hosting the AMM AGM this autumn.

January 2015.

Christmas at the Museum. At no time of year are local heritage and tradition more evident than during the Christmas season. Dufferin Historical Museum celebrated with its third annual “Christmas at the Museum” complete with horse drawn wagon rides, carols by the Animato singers, children’s activities, and piles of goodies and hot chocolate. Gordon Arnold read from his first novel, ‘Skippy’s War’ and, of course, Santa had the Museum on his list of special places to visit.

Santa and helper. Well done, Mrs. Claus, for getting Santa on a diet.

Animato singers and writer Gordon Arnold amidst artifacts

January 2014

Christmas at the Museum
Dufferin Historical Museum again is to be congratulated for another entertaining Christmas at the Museum. Members pitched in to decorate the Museum and plan an evening of fun, including carols by the Sonatrice Singers, a reading by author Lloyd Kitching, a vintage Santa, along with sleigh rides and refreshments.
Sonatrice Singers December 7, 2013 at Christmas at the Museum

Boyne School Re-locates (Summer 2013)

The big heritage news in Carman/Dufferin this summer has been the relocation of Boyne School from its original site east of Carman to its new home in King’s Park, north of the Dufferin Historical Museum. The move marks the culmination of more than two years of planning and fundraising by the Museum under the leadership of Trish Aubin and her diligent Board of Directors.
3rd Boyne school 1930–1966
Boyne School is one of just a few well-preserved one-room schools remaining in the province. The original log school was built in 1878. It was replaced by a frame structure in the 1890’s and by the present building in 1930. The school and land were designated as a Municipal Heritage Site by the RM of Dufferin in August, 1988. The building has now been re-designated by the Town of Carman.
The move is just the first part of the project, and a lot of restoration work still lies ahead. The Museum is working with Gord Menzies, a provincial Restoration Specialist, to restore the building in keeping with accepted guidelines. When it is completely refurbished with desks, maps, blackboards and books, the school will allow both old and young to step back in time and re-visit or newly experience one of the most important parts of our early heritage. Meantime, you can learn more about our early schools on this website.
One of the major concerns with any heritage venture is sustainability. It was long-term preservation concerns that prompted the Boyne School move; it is ongoing effort and funding that will keep it intact. The R.M. of Dufferin has just made a generous contribution towards ensuring this will happen. When the land the school was on east of Carman was sold by the municipality, Council decided to put the money into a fund to be used for the future upkeep of the school. We need to hear big applause for the R.M. as well as for all the other donors who have made the move possible, and, not least, for the Museum committee who are now in charge of the building and continuing to fundraise for restoration. Great community effort, folks!